With Thursday’s court-mandated changes of the ballot title for Initiative 1639 – the latest gun control scheme from the billionaire-backed Alliance for Gun Responsibility – the fight is on as paid signature gatherers are now hitting the streets to gather what the Everett Herald estimated must be close to 350,000 signatures, while grassroots rights groups […]
Will Seattle Mayor’s Gun Control Proposal Collide with State Law?
Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan announced Wednesday her desire for legislation requiring so-called “safe storage” of firearms and “increased civil penalties…for not reporting lost or stolen firearms,” but will that effort collide with Washington State’s 35-year-old preemption law? State preemption, adopted in 1983, puts sole authority for gun regulation in the hands of the State […]
9th Circuit Rejects I-594 Lawsuit, But after Law Amended
A U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals panel on Thursday rejected a lawsuit challenging Washington State’s Initiative 594 requiring so-called “universal background checks,” but the ruling came only after the State Legislature had amended provisions in the law about when such checks are required. That fact was specifically noted in the four-page decision, which […]
‘Shoplift Shooting’ in Seattle Reveals Liberal Mindset
Tuesday’s announcement that a 17-year-old girl whose brother died in a shootout with Seattle police last week will be prosecuted as an adult has provided that city’s liberal mindset an opportunity to shine like a flashlight with a cracked lens. Some Seattle Times readers, weighing in on the story, seem to suggest that nothing could […]
Was Seattle’s Fatal Shoplift Another Gun Control Failure?
Thursday’s dramatic shoplift-turned-fatal-shooting that sent two Seattle police officers to the hospital and one perpetrator to the Medical Examiner’s office is getting national attention for several reasons, including the fact that this whole episode apparently started over the theft of beer. To some observers, that hardly seems worth pulling a gun on police and ending […]
Gun Law Failure in Mount Vernon Shooting?
The man identified by various Washington State news agencies as the suspect in the Dec. 15 shooting of a Mount Vernon police officer has a lengthy criminal history dating back almost 20 years, according to published reports, which would prohibit him from possessing a firearm. Yet the suspect, identified in various news reports as Ernesto […]